Referendum on Presidential tenure hangs in balance

The hope of Ugandans to participate in the long awaited referendum that seeks to extend the tenure of the office of the President is in balance after parliament passed the budget frame work paper for the financial year 2018/2019 without considering the aspect of the referendum budget.

The Chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary affairs committee Jacob Oboth Oboth says the parliament’s failure to consider the budget was as a result of the government’s failure to communicate to the Electoral body in time.

Towards the end of last year, Parliament passed the long awaited constitutional amendment bill 2017 that saw the lifting of the presidential age limit and the extension of tenure of members of parliament and other local leaders from five to seven years.

This same Parliament directed government to organise a national referendum that seeks Ugandans to extend the tenure for the office of the President from five to seven years.

But to the chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary affairs Jacob Oboth Oboth, Ugandans will have to wait for a while as government has failed to communicate to the Electoral body to organise this election.

Even after passing of the budget frame work paper for the financial year 2018/19, Oboth Oboth however says it’s not yet late for the Electoral Commission as the body can even organise a special supplementary budget for the referendum.

Oboth also says that despite some concerned Ugandans petitioning the constitutional court challenging the constitutional amendments, this cannot bar the organisation of a referendum.